Curb Appeal–Improve Yours With 3 Simple Tricks
It’s high summer here in Portland, Oregon, and this is NOT a gardening column. I wanted to open with these beautiful shots the charming front garden of my dear friend, Margaret Retz, because it is the ultimate in curb appeal. Even if you are not a gardener, there are three simple things you can […]
Allegorical Art Celebrates the Feminine
When Carol’s daughter grew up and left home, she wanted her daughter’s room to be done over as a guest room that her daughter would still want to enjoy when she came home to visit. She asked her daughter to choose a new headboard, and when it was in place, Carol felt stymied about […]
Repurposing Prexy
Last year I was asked by my alma mater, Reed College, to help with the re-design of the Prexy Building on the college campus. It was designed in 1914 by the renowned Portland architect, A.E. Doyle, as a home for the college president, hence its name. The building was subsequently used as a boys’ […]
5 Tips for Easy Summer Entertaining
We are blessed in the Pacific Northwest with a moderate climate that makes outdoor entertaining possible from May through September. If you are new to outdoor entertaining, here are a few tips to make it easy and fun: 1. FOOD: Don’t try to do it all yourself. Plan simple menus, prepare most things the […]
Chew on This!
It’s not often that I design a room around a dog, but Samoa is a very special dog. She’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, and it was her chewing behavior as a young dog that prompted her owners, Sue and Bob Van Brocklin, to ask Emery & Associates to redecorate their family room. Eventually we worked […]
Make Your Living Room Come Alive
It’s a sad story–hardly anyone “lives” in their living rooms anymore. This is a tale we hear over and over, and here is one example of how we fixed it. The “AFTER” detail above shows a small slice of the adjoining living and dining rooms featured in this post. When the homeowners called Emery & […]
Combining Households–How to Make It Work
Susan Bach and Doug Egan combined their households some years ago. When they asked Emery & Associates for help redoing the entire house, it was apparent that what they needed help with the most was integrating Susan’s family pieces and whimsical country style with Doug’s more formal, traditional French style. We began in the TV […]
Redesign–What does it mean?
Emery & Associates did a major remodel of a client’s living room fireplace several years ago (see my previous post “Hot New Looks for Old Fireplaces,” February 24, 2011). The clients liked the remodeled fireplace so much that this year they rearranged their furniture so that the sofa faces the fireplace, which has become the […]
Always Sunny in Portland, Oregon
Yes, I’m kidding. But even on dark and rainy days the mood in this room is sunny and warm, like a day in Provence. When we first started talking about what kind of changes they wanted in their home, Sue and Bob Van Brocklin let me know their color and style preferences, and we […]